Southgate Veterans Memorial Library

COVID-19 Closure Update

Saturday, March 14th through Sunday, April 13th

Due to the shelter in place order by Governor Whitmer, the library will now remain closed, and library staff will be staying at home, through Monday, April 13th. All events, meetings, programs, storytimes, etc., are cancelled during this time. We will not be available to answer phone calls. If you need assistance with your account, or if you have any questions, please either contact the Director, Don Priest, at his email address

dpriest@southgate.lib.mi.us

leave a voice message by calling

734-258-3003

or leave us a message through our Facebook page

We’ll help you as best we can, when we can.

Staff will still occasionally be in to take care of the dropbox, so if you have items you want to return, they will be handled as soon as we can get to them. Please do not go out needlessly; we have taken measures to mitigate overdue and lost item fines, and will be happy to handle any issues that crop up due to overdue items once we are open again. At this time, nothing is more important than staying home, and staying safe!

Please see below for further information.

It is not possible to place holds at this time, either through the local catalog, or through MelCat. Anything you currently have on hold will remain there until we open again, and for an additional week, to give everyone a chance to pick them up eventually.

This is an excellent time to make use of our electronic offerings! We offer access to Overdrive (also known as Libby, or Download Destination), which provides eBooks and audiobooks. We also have Hoopla, with a wide variety of formats, and RBDigital, an online magazine service. Information and links to these services can be found on our ebook and eaudio page

Please note that access to Hoopla and RBDigital requires one of the new Southgate library cards, beginning with 29014. Overdrive will work with any current Southgate library card. If you have any questions or problems accessing these services, give us a call, we’ll see if we can help.

Due dates for all materials belonging to the Southgate Veterans Memorial Library have been extended until Monday, April 13th. Don’t worry about bringing everything back that day; we no longer charge overdue fines, so you will not be penalized for having them a few extra days.

The Library Network has extended all Southgate patron cards that would have expired during this closure, as well as any that expired after January 31st of this year, to allow patrons to continue using digital services and renew their materials. Those cards are now good until May 11th. If you find that you are unable to renew your items, or access our digital offerings, give us a call, it may be that your card expired and we missed it.

Self-Isolation Sanity Savers

Get an updated Library Card Remotely

We are now offering the opportunity to sign up for a library card remotely! Any Southgate resident who does not have a card, or who needs to update an old card, can send us their information, and we will reply with everything you need to gain access to our digital collection. If you already have a card beginning with 29014, you should be set; this is for new cards and updates only.

To get a new or updated card number, send the following information to the Director, Don Priest, through email, with the subject heading "New Library Card".

First Name
Last Name
Address
Phone Number
Birthdate

Director Priest's Email address: dpriest@southgate.lib.mi.us

Once we are able to, we will enter your information into the system, and send you your card number and PIN. It may take a day or two, as staff is only in the building for a few hours a week. This card number will be good for 3 months. To extend its lifespan, and to retrieve the physical card, you will need to come in when we are open again, and provide proof of identity and address (drivers license is ideal). We'll fill in the rest of the details of your account, and you'll be set for the standard 3 years.

To find out more about our digital offerings, follow the link on the navigation bar for Ebooks & Eaudio, or see the next update below.

Stay home, and stay safe!

Extra Ebooks and More from Hoopla

Many of you may already make use of our ebooks and e-audiobooks. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Governor Whitmer’s shelter in place order, the Southgate Veterans Memorial Library is increasing the limit on checkouts through Hoopla. Normally, the limit is 3; for the months of April and May, we’re bumping it up to 15! Enjoy a wide variety of books, audiobooks, comics, movies, and music, all from the comfort and safety of home! No joke!

Also, through the month of April, Hoopla is providing access to a no charge, 1,000+ collection called Bonus Borrows, completely free to all subscribing libraries! You do still need a qualifying card (beginning with 29014) to gain access. To find the Bonus Borrows, check the Categories for the desired media type, it should show up in the Top Categories.

There has never been a better time to give Hoopla a shot. You can reach Hoopla (as well as our other digital offerings, also worth a look) on our Ebook & Eaudio page

We’re doing what we can to help people stay busy, and stay home. Be safe, everyone!

Things To Do With Kids Who Are Stuck At Home

School's closed, libraries are closed, EVERYTHING is closed, and kids are going nuts? WE CAN HELP!

With at least 3 weeks before we can safely open again, we wanted to find ways to help parents keep their kids entertained and educated while out of school even when we can't see you in person! Here are some ideas you can use! We'll try to update this list as we locate new, high quality resources.

It's Spring, and while you should stay away from anyone outside your family as much as possible, there's still plenty of things you can do inside and out to have fun and keep your kids minds learning and growing! To get started, here's a Spring Bingo (or SPRINGO) card with some ideas!

If your kids complete a row, column, or diagonal they can claim one of our leftover Summer Game prizes when we re-open. Bonus points for anyone who can correctly tell Librarian Mike what each letter in SPRING on the card stands for!

While we lack the resources to do our OWN Virtual Storytime, there are many organizations making these available during these difficult times. One resources that's great for young kids, available for free at ANY TIME, is the SAG-AFTRA foundation'ss Storiline Online website. Famous actors read picture books aloud, using their talents, and the magic of online video, to bring the stories to life. This is an excellent resource for early literacy, and much better for kids than the average youtube video binge.

For more virtual storytimes, see this list for upcoming live events that popular children's book authors are volunteering their time with over the upcoming weeks. There's nothing better for early literacy than hearing stories read aloud!

Mo Willems, of "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Elephant and Piggie" (and other) fame, is offering Lunch Doodles to everyone, for free, nearly every day during this self-isolation period. Draw, doodle, and explore new ways of writing. Stretch your creative muscles!

The American Association of School Librarians as made a curated list of educational apps that are actually both fun and educational! A lot of apps out there claim to help kids learn, but many are lackluster at best. This list has all the best apps for teaching and learning that 2019 had to offer, with links to high quality websites and lists from 2018 available through their website.

Tumble Books has kindly given us FREE access to a wide selection of their eBooks and eAudiobooks for ALL AGES through August 31st! See the following list for links to various collections. This information will also be available on the eBooks page on this website.
MidAmerica Books has also opened up free access to hundreds of educational books and their child oriented ABDO Zoom research database!

Knowbuddy Resources, in partnership with publishers Amicus, Black Rabbit Books, Bookstaves and The Creative Company, is providing free unlimited access to hundreds of eBooks through their online virtual portal. These resources will be available to everyone until the end of May.

Here is the link and login credentials for accessing the free Knowbuddy Resources portal:

Platform: virtual.knowbuddyresources.com

User: info@knowbuddyresources.com

Password: KNOWBUDDY